For, henceforth,
fire would replace Mownoth as their chief god; it was easy to see that.
Moreover, both Corrus and Dulnop, as primitive people will, had been
irresistibly seized by the spirit of the mob. They threw their burden
down and joined in the frenzy of the dance. Louder and louder they
shouted; faster and faster they capered. Already one or two of their
fellow villagers had dropped, exhausted, to the ground. Never had they
had so good an excuse for dancing themselves to death!
And into this scene came the bees. Not one of them dared go within ten
yards of the flames; for a while, all they did was to watch the humans.
Such was the racket no one noticed the sound of the wings.
"Shall we attack those on the edge of the crowd?" one of Supreme's
lieutenants wanted to know. The commandant considered this with all the
force of what mental experience she had had.
"No," she decided. "We shall wait a little longer. Just now, they are
too jubilant to be frightened; we would have to kill them all, and that
would not be good policy."
Of course, the bee had the pollen crop, nothing more, in mind when she
made her decision; yet it was further justified. There was no let-up in
the rejoicing; if anything, it became more frantic than before.
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